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The Quarrymen Party
St Peter's
Church Hall, Woolton, Liverpool
29th May 2015
Feature by Lynda-Louise Tomlinson
Walking up Church Road in Woolton always builds an air of excitement within me, knowing that in the church grounds to the left, John Lennon performed with his band The Quarrymen on 6th July 1957.
Unbeknown to him, a young James Paul McCartney was watching with his school friend Ivan Vaughan. Later that day, Ivan introduced Paul to John in the church hall across the road, and it is in St Peter's Church Hall that we are heading to tonight for The Quarrymen Party.
On arrival, the hall is less than half full and the crowd are showered with Paul McCartney 'Out There' tour T-shirts having attended his very successful concert at TheLiverpool Echo Arena the night before.
A very informal set up, with the band wandering around the hall, helping themselves to the buffet and talking to fans and friends. The crowd slowly builds and more chairs are pulled from the store room to accommodat theme. Len Garry's daughter Ruth is our compere for the evening, and informs everybody that it will be about 15 minutes before the music begins, so shamelessly, she uses this opportunity to plug her dad's book "John, Paul & Me - Before The Beatles", but forgets to mention that there is a raffle or a stall raising money for the church.
St Peter's Church was just a little chapel in 1826, holding around 200 people. It is thought that the church was built "in the worst style of British Church architecture", therefore a number of wealthy merchants who had moved into the village helped support the building of a new church in 1886, now seating almost 500 people, with the bell tower marking the highest point in Liverpool.
But it is "the most important meeting in popular music history" and the band that were to become The Beatles that we are here to celebrate tonight. On that meeting in 1957, Paul impressed John with his left handed guitar tuning and performance of Eddie Cochran's Twenty Flight Rock of which The Quarrymen perform to a crowd, already on their feet from dancing to such songs as Sweet Little Sixteen and Blue Suede Shoes.
The gig began slowly, with the boys sharing stories of their history with the venue and The Beatles. However these memories came to an abrupt end when they were hurried along by Ruth due to the time restrictions of the Church.
The audience consisted of old friends, such as Bill Smith, the original bassist who played on that iconic day. Being spotted by Len Garry, it was inevitable that he was to be called up to stage to join the band to play Down By The Riverside.
The Quarrymen continue to take us on a journey with them, from Twenty Flight Rock to In Spite of All The Danger and That'll Be The Day, the first two songs that The Quarrymen, by then including Paul and George Harrison, ever recorded in a little back room in Kensington, Liverpool.
Later in the evening, John Duff Lowe gives the audience a little going away present - a laminated image and CD of the original single, with space on the poster to have John himself and Colin Hanton (drums) sign, as they were still Quarrymen members when it was recorded.
Despite a timid start, once the rock got rolling the audience were up and dancing, from a few close friends and family to the entire audience. A very touching moment was Len Garry's invitation to all the audience to get close to the stage and join in a singalong of In My Life as a tribute to John Lennon, the man who made them who they were, are, and will always be remembered as. Not a dry eye in the church.
There was a promise of a question and answer session but this was replaced by an encore and a queue for the free CDs.
However fans left happy having spent the last half hour of the night having photographs behind Colin's drum kit, or with one foot upon the tea chest bass and with the band themselves, along with plenty of autographs and buffet leftovers. A successful evening for all.
Huge thanks and congratulations must go to Donna Jackson and the members of St Peter's Church, who work hard to keep alive the memory of the church every day, offering tours and talks about the venue's history.
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